Friday, August 7, 2015

Going to France, I was really excited to pick up so many bags. The Lay's France website has so many beautiful sounding bags, like Cheeseburger and Parisian Sandwich. Sadly, this was LITERALLY the only bag I could find while I was there. Luckily though, it is a great bag of a favorite flavor that is pretty hard to eff up. "Sel & Vinaigre" is France's take on the Salt and Vinegar chip, and they even advertise it as the favorite flavor in the UK (how cute). I thought this bag was truly perfect. An awesome balance of potato, salt, and bright vinegar. A few years ago, I first tried France's version of Lay's and I found the potato chips to be thin and flaky, and all-together kind of weird tasting. But since then it really seems they have stepped up their chip game. I would say the chip texture is comparable to US chips, and the taste is much richer and more flavorful than both the US and what the French chips used to be like. This bag was really well balanced, and I definitely destroyed the whole thing in a few minutes.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

I got these on my trip to Canada to go watch the Women's World Cup.
On the shelf, the bag seemed a bit odd to me. The only time I've ever had sour cream and bacon together is on a baked potato, so the flavor didn't really connect for me until I realized baked potatoes could be sliced, and fried, and made into potato chips. Who would have thought?!
Look, this review is gonna be pretty short, ok?
This flavor combo is an obvious home run. The 3 flavors of Bacon, Sour Cream, and Potato are a match made in heaven; AND Bacon and Sour Cream are 2 flavors that have a proven track record on potato chips. It was unlikely they would have messed up the seasoning. The Ruffle cut adds a nice thickness that give the whole bite extra potato flavor.
Together you get salty bacon, creamy sour cream, and hearty potato. It's a great bite, and I'm surprised we don't have this flavor here in the States. Great bag! Go get it.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

They announced these flavors last week, but I was on vacation so sorry if you didn't hear the news here. However, if you didn't already find out... GUESS WHAT! Lay's announced the 4 flavor finalists in their Do Us A Flavor competition! This batch of flavors is pretty wild; this year's premise was that they've been inspired by local, regional flavors, so let's see what we've got and walk through them together.
First up, a Kettle Cooked option, "Greektown Gyro" a Gyro and Tzatziki flavored chip inspired by a Gyro shop in Texas. For this flavor to work, it's probably gonna be pretty hearty when paired with that thicker Kettle Chip. The Costco bag of Tzatziki chips I reviewed the other day was pretty authentic and delicious, so I'm hopeful these are gonna follow suit.
Next up, the Wavy option, "West Coast Truffle Fries". These are inspired by dressed up French Fries from Irvine, CA. Since, I live pretty close to Irvine, I'll just go out on a limb and say, this is not a typical thing. Yes, we do have a hipster foodie scene that sells all sorts of things on top of French Fries, but Truffle is not something I have found specifically often. These are probably pretty delicious though, since the Wavy chip only has to do the job of Fries. Not that hard to mess up. Right?
Third up is "Southern Biscuits and Gravy"; now this says regional flavor to me! It's another flavor of a dressed up starch, so if they can nail that gravy flavor and a hint of floury biscuits, these should be awesome.
Last one is "New York Reuben", again a flavor that sounds super regional to me and makes perfect sense. I'm a huge fan of the way Lay's USA handles Sandwich flavors, so I have no doubt this will be great. I anticipate it will have the corned beef flavor, and a sour note from either sauerkraut or pickles or both, and then a sweetness from rye bread.

So what are your thoughts about this year's finalists? Are they too extreme? Or are you excited?
Share your opinions in the comments section below.

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The Chip Report is an attempt to taste every Frito-Lay chip around the world. We're here to talk about international flavors and marketing, compare them to the status-quo here at home, and track down hard to find bags like a scavenger hunt. You can join in too, let us know about bags of chips you've come across in your travels!

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Looking for info about a particular flavor? Use the search bar to find what you seek. Want to browse similar flavors? Each entry is tagged by Style of Chip, Country of Origin, Flavors/Ingredients, and Type of Entry (i.e. Review or News etc.)... if you want to see more, just click on the tag that peaks your curiosity. Stories about new flavors being released are usually labeled "Gotta Get At This". Stories about new contests being held around the world are labeled "Contest". Reviews are labeled simply by bag name.Enjoy!